. J ' THE · : NEW.OI\I\I IV , - ... / .' / ..::.,k ,, :: m :. /",, 'í'/fi'\ . A r' -Þ-'" - '" :: ... II nu . <,)\\\\ , ; 0 0 _.tIt. . · 0 . " . .'" ". THE- TALK OF THE TOWN N oies and Comment T HE lawyer who drew up the complaint against Douglas F air- banks in Mary Pickford's divorce suit pointed out that Doug had no in- terest in life except travel, which "de- stroyed the legitimate ends of matri- mony." We refuse to interpret this as a poke at Colonel and Mrs. Lindbergh, but will regard it as just one of those funny sayings which our divorce laws engender. If matrimony is to be of any social consequence, its legitimate ends probably will have to continue serving all kinds of people, including wives who complain that they never go anywhere, and husbands who prowl around the apartment all day tending tropical fish. W e call on Miss Pick- ford's lawyer to amend his extremely prejudicial complaint by stating that Mr. Fairbanks' penchant for avel merely destroyed the legitimate ends of matrimony for Miss Pickford. Mary herself made a perfectly clear state- ment: she said she and her husband were no longer happy. Some day our laws will recognize unhappiness as by all odds the most mysterious, holy, and substantial grounds for divorce, and lawyers won't have to define matri- mony in terms of the personal prefer- ence of one of the parties. W HILE on the subject of persona] preference, we should call the reader's attention to the first fruits of our angry campaign against the pre- vailing body-design of motorcars-our own preference being for the now ob- solete type of car which you used to be able to enter without getting down on all fours, and which you used to be able to drive without the use of a peri- scope. It seems that this fall (some two years after we had pointed out the merits of the London cab), a gentle- man of this city actually imported one and is using it around town. He can get in and out, he finds, without knock- ing his opera hat off, and the ve hicle is stately in every respect. W E regard the cab incident as something of a victory, but our real ambition is to influence the Ameri- can manufacturers of pleasure cars. To date we have dismally failed to do so. The 1934 models have begun to bloom, and to our watery gaze they seem more grotesque than ever. Last week that fabulous old motorist, Alex- ander W oollcott, who is admittedly the country's leading exponent of the flag- ging torso, came out publicly in praise of the new Airflow Chrysler because i[ carried him in vibrationless ease over a dirt road at sixty-five miles per hour while he made small notes on a scratch pad. A careful study of the photo- graphic record of Mr. W oollcott' s ro- mantic interlude with Chrysler shows him slumped down in the rear seat, looking as though he had just been shot. This proves our point: that cars today are designed for hiding bodies in. We are not quarreling with any particular make of car (certainly not with Chrys- ler, which is conservative enough by n10dern standards); our battle is with -- all cars today-with the sway-back radiator; with the bloated fender (sometimes so low it scrapes the curb- ing when you drive alongside); with the windshield nine inches high; with the windowsil] at chin level; with seats pitched to pinch a man's entrails; with the front fender which is out of sight from the driver's seat and which has to be equipped with a tiny mast to indicate its location. We deplore the designers' silly preoccupation with phony stream- lining and chromium effects, to the neg- lect of simple rules of comfort, visi- bility, and physical culture. And we ask them please to cease producing cars which, more than anything else, re- mind us of the pictures of odd, vision- ary inventions we used to see in Popular Mechanics, around 1910 - most of them designed for underwater use. W E were glad to see Alec Hamil- ton's old New York Evening Post saved in the nick of time by a stranger from Philadelphia. The Post is the ð'ï '!. , I I i . 1 . a.l ; 1 . \ 1 . i-Ii ! I . 4"" .....- _". ' ';.';1 .....,.,. ...', þ .... ..... ,,. - ... ,.. /II ....;.. , oldest paper in town, and at that it is eight years younger than ,another favor- ite journal of ours: The Old Farmer's Almanac, which is our constant guide and companion. We have been run- ning over the Almanac's hints for De- cember, 1794, and they are as perti- nent and helpful today as they must have been then. "Very little," it says, "is to be done out doors this month to Inuch profit. See that your sleds and sleighs are put in order. Complete your thrashing lest rats and mice de- stroy it. Visit your barns often, see that your cattle has good attendance paid them. At this season, the enjoy- lnen ts of the farmer are more to be envied than of any other occupation or profession whatsoever. He sees his barns, granaries and cellars, all well filled by his own industry and frugal- ity; his farm affording him all the com- forts and necessaries of life, enables him to spend the long and tedious winter